Craigneuk family hit out at North Lanarkshire Council over the mess left behind in their garden by previous tenants

Alexander Price is desperate to get the back garden cleared so his kids can play outside (Image: Wishaw Press)

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A Craigneuk mum fears her young children will be seriously injured if North Lanarkshire Council don’t remove dangerous rubble from their garden.

Gillian Ford, her partner Alexander Price and their four children Ellie, 12, Jay, 6, Lucas, 4, and Kacie, 1, moved into the four-bedroom property on The Broadway on February 23 and have been waiting for the council to clean up the hazardous mess ever since.

Frustrated Gillian, 30, told the Wishaw Press she is scared to let her children play outside.

She added: “There is shattered glass, fences with nails sticking out, large stones and rabbit and dog dirt everywhere. How can I let my kids out near that?

“The weather is getting better and the lighter nights are coming in, yet we can’t let our children play outside.

“There is also no fence between us and our next door neighbours who have a big dog. He comes in and out of the garden because there is nothing to stop him getting in. He seems like a nice dog but you never know what could happen if the kids annoyed him.”

Gillian said she was informed by North Lanarkshire Council that the garden would be cleaned within two weeks and has phoned every day since the deadline passed to find out when the work would be completed.

She added: ”There is no urgency to get this done. I just keep getting fobbed off. I would go out and clean it up myself but it’s too dangerous. I don’t have the equipment or the resources.

“Last week I had the door open because it was hot. The next minute I looked out the window and one of the boys had got out and was climbing on top of one of the broken fences. He could have seriously hurt himself.

“We should be enjoying our big garden and be happy that our children have somewhere safe to play.”

A council spokesman for North Lanarkshire Council said: “We are investigating the unacceptable contractor’s delay in clearing the garden. We share our tenant’s frustration at the time this has taken and will ensure the garden is fixed by the end of the week.